Esquire's Americans of the Year: Patriots

A portfolio of Americans who stepped up in 2011

A portfolio of Americans who stepped up in 2011Photographs by Kalpesh Lathigra

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Kalpesh Lathigra

D.J. Skelton

Army Captain, 2nd Cavalry Regiment

For a second there, D. J. Skelton felt like he was floating. And then came the sound of a soldier asking if he was alive. Skelton tried to scream. But nothing came out. Then ... blinding pain.

The RPG ambush in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004, destroyed Skelton's entire upper jaw, palate, and left eye. His left arm was pulverized and a fist-sized hole was punched through his right leg. It would take sixty surgeries and six years for Skelton to fully recover, during which he worked for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and cofounded a disable-bodied sports organization, Paradox Sports. But one thing he knew soon after he awoke in the hospital: He wanted to return to his men.

In March, Skelton took command of 150 infantrymen, armor soldiers, and fire-support soldiers of the 2nd Cavalry during their one-year tour in Afghanistan. Although he can't see out of his left eye and eats with a prosthesis, the soldiers see him as nothing other than what he is — Captain Skelton, head of the company. He is the most seriously injured active-duty soldier. And he is exactly where he belongs, leading his soldiers. —Mark Mikin

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Kalpesh Lathigra

Larry Powell

Superintendent, Fresno Country Office of Education

In 1987, Larry Powell played Juror No. Eleven in Twelve Angry Men in his hometown of Fresno, California. Playing an Eastern European refugee, he had to pretend he couldn't get any of the jokes. Which was hard for Powell. He loves laughter. He believes that it helps you survive the difficulties of life. It's a gift he thinks everyone should have.

But when California cut billions in education funding — which came out to $1,200 less per Fresno student — it meant cuts top to bottom. So Powell did the only thing he could: He quit his job as Fresno schools superintendent and the $230,000 salary that went with it, and then reapplied to do the same job for $31,000 a year. Powell could afford to take the cut, he believed, but the students couldn't. By the time he retires, Powell's act will have added more than $800,000 to the coffers of the Fresno County school system, all of which has been earmarked into a discretionary fund for arts programs as well as an antibullying program called Rachel's Challenge. His sacrifice alone won't fix the budget crisis. But at least the shows will go on. —M.M.

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Kalpesh Lathigra

Antonio Diaz Chacón

Mechanic

Last summer, Antonio Diaz Chacón did something dangerous and risky because he didn't really see any other choice. He heard a neighbor shouting that a little girl had just been abducted, so he jumped in his truck and gave chase. At first the driver of the van didn't seem to know he was being followed. But then the van began to speed up and to veer this way and that before sliding off the road and crashing into a pole on the outskirts of Albuquerque. The driver ran, stashing a roll of tape and some straps under a rock. Chacón hopped out of his truck and grabbed the girl. She was confused and scared, but he told her that everything was going to be all right, that he would take her home, and that's exactly what he did.

Four years ago, Chacón did something else dangerous and risky because he didn't really see any other choice. He left his impoverished home in Chihuahua, Mexico, and snuck across the border near Santa Teresa. Married now, with steady work as a mechanic, he still doesn't have his immigration papers.

Which means that Antonio Diaz Chacón is both a great American and not an American at all. —Luke Dittrich

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Kalpesh Lathigra

Heather Bresch

President, Mylan Pharmaceutical Company

By law every American drug-making facility is inspected by the FDA every two years to ensure safety. But an estimated 1.5 million tainted or counterfeit foreign prescriptions enter the country each year, each with the potential to make people very sick, or worse: In 2008, a bad batch of the blood thinner heparin proved deadly.

As the primary author and force behind the EQUIP FDA Act, which will require overseas drugmakers that sell prescriptions in the U. S. to pay for biennial inspections, Heather Bresch is changing this. Beyond making consumers safer, the new law has the potential to encourage more domestic drug manufacturing by reducing some of the benefits of moving operations overseas.

The plan has the broad approval of the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry, as well as bipartisan support in Washington. Congress is expected to consider EQUIP FDA early next year, and Bresch, who is president of the Pennsylvania-based pharmaceutical manufacturer Mylan, is cautiously optimistic about its success. She knows there are few things right now that we can all agree upon. But saving lives at no taxpayer expense is one of them. —Tim Heffernan

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Kalpesh Lathigra

Michael Nutter

Mayor, Philadelphia

In August, Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter told the black teenagers involved in recent mob attacks that "you damaged your own race." He admonished their parents: "You need to get hold of your kids before we have to." The speech brought Nutter national attention, but his reputation as a no-nonsense truth teller was long established in Philly, where he became mayor in January 2008, a month into the Great Recession.

Nutter immediately made tough choices: payroll cuts. Increases in taxes. Cuts in services. Shifting police veterans from desk work to patrol. But the city didn't fall apart: Since he took office, the murder rate has dropped 20 percent, a new 311 system has markedly improved public assistance, the redevelopment of the Philadelphia Navy Yard has brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in investments, and for the first time in decades, Philadelphia's population actually increased. These gains have not translated into massive popularity, but Nutter is philosophical: "If you have a deep-seated need to be loved and admired every day, you shouldn't be in politics. You should go work at a pet store. —T.H.

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Kalpesh Lathigra

Christine Marty

Student

Christine Marty and her mother had just gone back-to-school shopping in Pittsburgh. She bought a dark-gray pair of BDG jeans, a Sparkle & Fade sweater, and some tank tops she could wear to both dance and accounting class. On the way back home, they could barely see the road. The Lexus RX 300's defogger was broken, so Marty had to wipe the windshield down with a rag — then, gridlock. Pouring rain. Flooding. The water rose and soon began to fill up inside the car and to submerge their laps. And then the car itself was floating, like a bumper car, crashing into the other bumper cars along the street. By the time they got out — Marty through the window, her mother through the sunroof — they could hear the screaming of Romy Connolly, sixty-nine years old and suffering from lung cancer. Marty swam over and pulled Connolly out the window. With Connolly tucked under her left arm, she fought the current with her right. But Connolly had all but given up. She didn't want to hold on anymore, she just wanted to let go. Then the praying started. Marty began reciting the Our Father, and Connolly mouthed the words. Everything was going to be okay. And soon it was. —M.M.